Medical image diagnostic apparatuses such as an MRI apparatus and an X-ray CT apparatus are widely applied to clinical applications because a lot of medical knowledge can be obtained from volume data of a three-dimensional space collected from a region-of-interest (ROI) of an object. In three-dimensional imaging in which such volume data is obtained, data of all the region-of-interest can be obtained by once performing an imaging process. A two-dimensional image of an arbitrary section can be obtained by data processing after the imaging process.
Therefore, it is unnecessary to accurately perform positioning of the object in the imaging process. For an operator, substantial total hours spent at work excluding data processing time is, therefore, reduced. Moreover, detailed anatomical knowledge concerning the region-of-interest is unnecessary. In other words, it is unnecessary to perform imaging again in order to reacquire a sectional image (a two-dimensional image) of the object to be observed. This is extremely convenient from the viewpoints of accuracy and promptness of medical diagnosis.
However, when an imaging result is read, since a two-dimensional image is used, a long time is consumed for data processing for generating, from collected volume data, a two-dimensional image to be observed. This hinders further improvement of accuracy and promptness of medical diagnosis.
A related art for solving such a problem discloses a method of displaying, in a medical image observation supporting system established on a network, the same section with respect to a new test image on the basis of position information of test images in the past with an apparatus coordinate system set as a reference (e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-22368).
Another related art discloses a method of applying, in a medical image display apparatus, on the basis of incidental information (sectional position information and sectional direction information) of certain image data, MPR (multi-planar reconstruction) processing for the same section to other image data by performing drag and drop operation between image display areas (e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-282656).
In both the related arts, accuracy of a sectional position is assured on condition that there are images obtained by imaging the same patient in the same modality in the past. Further, even if the condition is satisfied, unless a positional relation between a patient and an apparatus is fixed, it is difficult to reproduce the same section.
Specifically, for example, when head imaging is performed by MRI, in performing positioning with a projector, operation for designating completely the same position as that in the past and setting a specific region of a patient in the center of an apparatus is requested. Further, it is requested that tilts of the head of the patient are the same in all directions between imaging in the past and imaging at the present. These requests are unrealistic.